U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback reportedly is withdrawing from the presidential race.
The Associated Press reported that Brownback, a conservative from Kansas who lags well behind front-running moderates Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor, and Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, in the race for the Republican candidacy, would drop out Friday.
Brownback is leaving the race because of fund-raising difficulties, AP said. Polling places him behind another conservative Christian in the race, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
Brownback is close to a number of conservative and Orthodox Jewish groups who favor his tough opposition to legalized abortion and his championing of a law recognizing an undivided Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. He recently said he favored a right-wing Israeli proposal to extend Israeli sovereignty to the West Bank and make Jordan responsible for the Palestinians.
